Sheikh Gilani’s texts say that he met with Hezb-i-Islami and the Islamic Revolution of Afghanistan in 1979 to try to unify their ranks against the Soviet Union. Gilani said he offered his services to any Islamic group taking part in the jihad.

The group disbanded in the 1990s and most members joined the Taliban.[i]

[i] Harakat Muqatila-e-Islami Afghanistan. Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium. http://www.trackingterrorism.org/group/harakat-muqatila-e-islami-afghanistan-hmia

The Islamic Post is the official newspaper of MOA. It has gone through various name changes.

The organization describes itself as “an international newspaper based in New York, NY, that serves as a media channel for The Muslims of America, Inc.. For decades, The Islamic Post has provided an unbiased view of world events, cutting edge news, and a fresh perspective that includes topics of importance to all citizens of the world.”[i]

When the name of the newspaper was Islamic Chronicle, it identified itself as “the official organ of the Fuqra movement.”

[i] “Islamic Post.” The Muslims of America. http://www.tmoamerica.org/organizations/525-islamic-post/.

MOA held its first annual International Islamophobia Conference in Albany, New York on November 22, 2015. It announced the formation of a political coalition named the International United Muslim Forum at the event. It was held at the Muslim Community Center of the Capital District in Schenectady, New York.[i]

The event included three officials from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), including one that is common official between MOA and CAIR’s Massachusetts chapter.

The U.S. Justice Department designated CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation, a CAIR-linked charity that was shut down for financing the Hamas terrorist group. The Justice Department identified CAIR as an “entity” of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee, a secret body established by the Brotherhood to advance Hamas’ cause.[ii]

In another terrorism trial, that of Sabri Benkhala, federal prosecutors said in a 2008 court filing:

“From its founding by Muslim Brotherhood leaders, CAIR conspired with other affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood to support terrorists … the conspirators agreed to use deception to conceal from the American public their connections to terrorists.”

The United Arab Emirates, a Muslim country that previously supported CAIR, designated the organization as a terrorist group when it decided to ban the Muslim Brotherhood.[iii]

[i] “The Muslims of America, Inc. Hosts the First Ever International Islamophobia Conference in Albany, N.Y.” (2015.) The Muslims of America. http://www.tmoamerica.org/news/566-intl-islamophobia-conf-2015/

[ii] Mauro, Ryan. (2013). Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) – Nat’l Headquarters. Clarion Project. http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/council-islamic-relations-cair

[iii] Mauro, Ryan. (2014). UAE Doubles Down on Designation of CAIR as Terrorists. Clarion Project. http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/uae-doubles-down-designation-cair-terrorists

MOA says BNI “was founded in 1987 to respond to the needs of ladies, specifically the American Muslim Youth. For 26 years, BNI has established semi-annual programs based on Islamic and Home Economics education, social events and activities designed to immerse ladies in Islamic culture and provide life-long skills that shape the refined Muslim lady.”[i]

Female members of MOA have traveled to Pakistan and Kashmir as members of this entity.

[i] “Banaatun Noor International.” The Muslims of America. http://www.tmoamerica.org/organizations/521-bni/

EXPOSED: Top UFC Manager’s Wild Story of Espionage & Terrorism

A Hollywood-like spy story has been billowing beneath the surface in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. The remarkable story is told in chapters at the end of this introduction.

The FuqraFiles has obtained documents and personal testimony to help unravel the mysterious past of the biggest and most controversial manager in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Ali Abdelaziz. He is best known for managing Lightweight Champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Abdelaziz’s mysterious past includes criminal activity with a terrorism-linked cult named Muslims of the Americas (also known as Jammat ul-Fuqra) and working as a spy for the FBI and NYPD within the group.

A documentary about Jammat ul-Fuqra, or Muslims of the Americas, can be watched here.

MOA is known for its “Islamic villages” across North America, including its 70-acre “Islamberg” headquarters in upstate New York. The group was under federal investigation as of 2017 and likely still is. MOA claims to have 22 such compounds in the U.S.

Our FuqraFiles.com website is a database of information about MOA, including its extremist ideology, links to terrorism and international crime and history of paramilitary training. Our research is based on first-hand testimony and thousands of pages of evidence, photographs and videos. The website has a specific section about the story of Abdelaziz.

We have obtained exclusive photos from when Abdelaziz gathered intelligence on MOA’s “military squad” training. Abdelaziz’s covert relationship with the U.S. government was severed as agents concluded he was untrustworthy.

As the President and Founder of Dominance MMA Management, Abdelaziz’s roster of fighters includes Frankie Edgar, Renzo Gracie, Henry Cejudo, Rashad Evans and a slew of fighters with names reflecting Islamic and/or Central Asian backgrounds. Abdelaziz and his circle have extensive ties to the Russian-backed Islamist dictator of Chechnya.

The story first broke in 2012 when Abdelaziz’s testimony about MOA was included in a book titled Twilight in America by Martin Mawyer. Abdelaziz had approached Mawyer to tell his story, believing it could help prevent his deportation. Abdelaziz later went silent on the issue and refuses to discuss it further.

Then, in 2014, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman released a book titled Enemies Within, which confirmed that Abdelaziz was once a highly-valued spy inside MOA known as Confidential Informant 184.

The story began getting mainstream attention last year when UFC superstar Conor McGregor caused a firestorm at a press conference ahead of his fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov, who is managed by Abdelaziz. McGregor insulted him as a “snitch terrorist rat.”

The FuqraFiles creator, Ryan Mauro, and Martin Mawyer have acquired accounts from current and former MOA members, information from law enforcement sources, court filings and declassified reports to shed further light on the story of Ali Abdelaziz.

Below is our detailed expose of the story involving Ali Abdelaziz, MOA and his time as a spy, broken down by chapter. It will be updated as more information becomes available.

1. Arrival in the U.S. and Entry into MOA
2. MOA’s Colorado Branch and the Olympic Training Center
3. The Police Come Onto Ali’s Trail
4. Abdelaziz’s Associates in Colorado
5. The Hammer Starts to Come Down
6. The Strange 9/11 Coincidence
7. December 18, 2001: Ali Abdelaziz Arrested & Put on Trial
8. MOA Raises National Security Alarm Bells
9. Ali Abdelaziz Becomes Confidential Informant 184 to Spy on MOA
10. Wedding at Islamberg
11. Mission: MOA’s Islamic Political Party of America
12. MOA’s “Military Squad” Raises Alarm
13. White Hawk
14. Mission: Penetrate the Military Squad’s Training 
15.  The White Hawk Investigation Suddenly Ends
16. Mission: MOA’s Overseas Operations
17. A Strained Relationship
18. The Spy Game Comes to an End
19. Abdelaziz Approaches Mawyer
20. “Modern Warrior Slaves”
21. “It’s sad. It’s sad to see this in America.”
22. “They bullshit them. They bullshit them.”
23. “MOA is Asleep. They are asleep. They are a bomb.”
24. The Fallout
25. The Story Continues
26. See the Evidence

Sheikh Gilani’s exploitation of women and children is what most bothered him.

The estimates that MOA had 1,500 to 3,000 members was grossly underestimated, he felt. The real number had to be closer to 15,000 when the children are included.

Other sources agreed, mentioning that the number probably doesn’t account for the group’s international expansions. They also said MOA was having success in recruiting Somalis, inside and outside of America. Several violent terrorist plots against MOA, specifically Islamberg, followed by sympathetic media coverage, are said to be actually helping the group.

Abdelaziz said that children are being trapped into lives of crime and poverty.

“A lot of the children that grow up there become drug dealers. Some become murderers,” he said.

Kids were being taught that it is acceptable to engage in crimes that victimize non-Muslims, as long as it is for the cause of Gilani and, therefore, Allah. Many become drug dealers who donate a portion of the proceeds to the organization and Gilani.

He said that, as far as he knew, the drugs weren’t being sold to other MOA members on the camps.

Other MOA-affiliated sources explain that producing and consuming drugs is forbidden but selling them is permissible if it is done to advance the cause. Since the drug trade is seen as part of the Zionist conspiracy against Islam, it is acceptable to use it against the enemy.

Abdelaziz was particularly disturbed about criminal activity committed by “the young guys with gangs” in New York, who he said he didn’t hang out. Sources say he is referring to MOA-linked gangs like the “Land Boys,” which is known to conduct drug trafficking away from the premises of Islamberg.

The DEA has investigated and arrested MOA members including the “Land Boys” for crimes like drug trafficking and robbery. Documents from one 2007 DEA investigation said that partnering agencies “believe that through a narcotics distribution network these individuals were generating funds and then taking these funds back to the [Islamberg] compound.” It also said that MOA members in the area were transferring money to the group’s leadership in Pakistan.

Gilani prohibits birth control and condoms so that the organization would grow as rapidly as possible, with women often having eight or nine children. Almost every woman is on taxpayer-provided public assistance, and “use public services as crazy,” while sending a portion back to the MOA leadership and Gilani.

There is a huge amount of welfare fraud and food stamp fraud, particularly in Colorado and Binghamton, New York, he said.

He flatly stated that it is “approved by MOA” and not the work of a few rogue individuals. He explained:

“A lot of them do welfare fraud. They do all kinds of scams. All kinds of scams. MOA does not want to lose out on opportunities of a crime being committed. They might have a guy sell a $10 drug or do a pickpocket. Maybe they have someone else, like in Philadelphia and Virginia, go sell a kilo of drugs. The drug money goes back to Gilani.”

The fraud against the U.S. government or other entities is permissible because it is taking back money from the “Satanic-Zionist” enemies of Islam.

Families are crammed into small trailers, with two families often sharing a single mobile home. Girls were pressured into arranged and polygamous marriages at young age. The children living on the compounds are mostly homeschooled, as public education is discouraged, and so the majority are practically illiterate and “brainwashed.” He said:

“They have school on the Hancock compound [Islamberg]. But a lot of the kids don’t go to school. 90 percent of them can barely read or write. It’s sad. It’s sad to see this in America.”

The population suffers in poverty, stuck in a situation that denies them the pursuit of the American dream, so that Gilani and his family could live large.

He had seen the pictures of Gilani’s cars and multiple homes in Pakistan. And he remembered when MOA spent about $15,000—money provided by the impoverished members—to purchase and send video cameras to Pakistan for Gilani’s studio.

Ali would not detail what crimes he reported to the NYPD, saying, he feared “it would violate my immunity” agreement and lead to his deportation. He strongly implied that he reported evidence of MOA members involved in murders and, as he put it, “some very, very serious crimes” where “people got hurt very badly.”

Abdelaziz said that the evidence of human rights abuses that he provided the NYPD should have been enough for the government to take action:

“That’s one of the things, honestly, this is what I think. This is what I think is the biggest disgrace: The abuse. The only thing is, nobody on the camps says anything. Of course, they’re afraid…

…Some people are there because they’re scared. They don’t know what to do. They have their children there. They’re scared of the wrath of Gilani. They think, you know, they’re afraid they will get punished. They are so controlled, so brainwashed. It’s crazy.”

Those who leave the group and potentially expose them are at serious risk.

“You have to understand, these people are not the nicest people. They have to do what they got to do. I know this for sure. They will do whatever. They have tried to kill their own people,” he explained.

Abdelaziz then explicitly warned Martin Mawyer that, due to his research drawing negative attention to MOA, “You are in danger.”

Other sources who were or are affiliated with MOA also talk about the immense difficulty of leaving the organization and even greater danger of talking to law enforcement or the press about what is happening.

Most, if not all, of your friends and family are in the cult. You likely have a criminal record and poor education, making employment and therefore self-sufficiency a daunting task. The comfort of community is beyond quantification.

In many cases, those who leave or begin to distance themselves from MOA find life outside of the group to be too difficult to adjust to. They come back, or at least, make amends.

Reporting to law enforcement is an even taller order.

To begin with, you’d be ratting out people who—despite their transgressions—probably have some fond memories of and affection towards. You could report a crime committed by someone you don’t care about, but it is quite possible for the investigation to lead the authorities to those you do care about.

Secondly, there’s a lack of confidence that law enforcement will even do anything with the information. After all, MOA has existed since the early 1980’s.

Then, there’s the well-known fact that MOA members have been employed in law enforcement and different government sectors. This fact raises the fear that you could be caught, and you and your family will suffer the consequences.

And finally, once you expose MOA, there’s no going back. If you can’t make it in your new life, have no recourse. You cannot make amends. You cannot be helped. You’re completely on your own.

That is why the testimonies of Ali Abdelaziz and the few other defectors are so critical and groundbreaking

Ali Abdelaziz’s relationship with MOA became increasingly strained, decreasing his effectiveness as an informant.

MOA-affiliated sources say that many members in New York didn’t like him from the start and that his personality increasingly alienated people, even though Canadian members of MOA like Hussein Adams continued to covet his friendship.

A major break happened when he suddenly divorced his wife, Fatima.

Her father, Ihsan, and other family members were filled with resentment as she and her baby were abandoned. They claimed he had mistreated her during the marriage, too. It was widely known that Ihsan wanted to kill Abdelaziz and sources close to the situation believe he would attempt to do so today if given the chance.

Abdelaziz moved out of Islamberg as a result, greatly limiting his access.

MOA-affiliated sources say the final straw was when Abdelaziz refused to get rid of his dog. Sheikh Gilani preached that it is a violation of Sharia Law to keep a dog inside the home as a pet. Only guard dogs who were mostly kept outside were permitted.

He was choosing a dog over Sheikh Gilani, which offended any believer in the Pakistani cleric. It became apparent that Abdelaziz did not respect Gilani as a divine representative of Allah. He was almost expelled completely from the group over it.

According to some sources, Abdelaziz’s access was essentially over at this point. One described him as having become “irrelevant” after MOA realized that certain information was leaking to the U.S. government. However, Abdelaziz confidently told Mawyer that MOA would testify on his behalf if necessary (this was before the story came out).

Some heard that MOA began suspecting he was an informant, and that’s when all contact was minimized. Others believe MOA officials are lying about that in order to hide their embarrassment over being infiltrated.

Abdelaziz did say to Mawyer that there were a few “close calls” where MOA could have discovered that he was an informant.

Some sources heard that Abdelaziz told his closest MOA friends that he was a paid informant. If true, that means he was essentially acting as a double-agent for MOA, or some in MOA, against the U.S. government. These sources did not know when Abdelaziz allegedly revealed this.

In his conversation with Mawyer, Abdelaziz was defensive of the Canadian wing led by Hussein Adams, suggesting this circle around Adams was innocent. On the other hand, he had harsh words for the American MOA in New York.

This raises the possibility that, as an informant, Abdelaziz was only willing to incriminate some within MOA, while hoping to protect the others that he felt some affinity towards.